A light shines over 10 Downing Street in London, Britain, 19 October 2022. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Neill Hall) The Recruitment & Employment Confederation said the number of active job postings remained stable between 1.4 million and 1.5 million since August, above the level of unemployment.
The Bank of England is concerned that there’s fewer workers in the UK than before the coronavirus pandemic, forcing companies to pay more to hire the staff they need to expand. That labour shortage is a constraint on the economy’s potential that’s adding to upward pressure on prices.
REC said it recorded 154,000 new job postings in the week beginning on 17 October, down 3.9% from the month earlier. The week before that, there were 217,000 postings.
Demand was particularly high for childminders and school secretaries, for which advertised jobs increased by 3.3% and 1.9% respectively. Those increases offset a drop in demand for bar staff, waiters and pharmacy assistants.
“There are some signs of greater volatility driven by economic and political uncertainty,” said Neil Carberry, chief executive of REC. “But these cyclical trends are being offset by a substantial labour shortage that means firms still need to hire, even when growth has slowed.” BM/DM
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